Gaelic figures from the census

[Donald Angie Morrison - Presenter] Now, figures from the last census showed that there are far fewer younger people with Gaelic than older people on the North end of Lewis, taking in Stornoway, Point and Ness. It’s in South Uist that the numbers are strongest in the ages. In the Isle of Skye, it is falling amongst older people, but rising amongst the youth. This report is with John McDiarmid.

[John McDiarmid – Reporter] When this ship was launched, the state of Gaelic was far healthier today. But, using new figures from the census, we can measure how it is in the areas where it is known to be strong. We used the figures to measure age in the Isle of Skye and the Western Isles.

[John McDiarmaid – Reporter] We met a conversation group at the University of Glasgow and they are chatting about the state of Gaelic. In the North End of Lewis, taking in Stornoway and Point, you can see the biggest gap between old and young with some Gaelic use. 75% of older people. Compared with 44% of people under 18.

[Andrew Dunn] I would say still, you still notice that it is at quite a good level, although there are more people now than there was when I was young speaking just English.

[John McDiarmaid – Reporter] South Uist is healthier compared with any other area. There is not much difference between the ages. But do these snapshots give us the full picture?

[Alana MacInnes] People who are older than me, you won’t hear English from many of them, maybe thosewho have moved here or who never had it anyway. But, I think amongst people my own age, although the figures look very good, I think that there is lots of work to de be done to ensure people are comfortable to talk together and speak more Gaelic and naturally.

[John McDiarmaid – Reporter] The number of Gaelic speakers has been decreasing in the Isle of Skye more than in the Western Isles, but taking a closer look, we see that it has increased amongst the youth.

[John McDiarmaid – Reporter] In Trotternish, Portree and Snizort, the numbers of old and young are almost equivalent levels in the population. There was no Gaelic in Keir Gibb’s family, but he learned it in school. He recommends creating official areas in the Highlands, as they have in Ireland.

[Keir Gibb] That would be really good in the Isle of Skye, with the figures that we have now, it would be really hard, but I think it is necessary in the Western Isles, especially for something of that kind, a scheme like that, where there is advantages to using Gaelic and that there are economic opportunities and everything like that. And on the education side, I don’t see why there is Education through the Medium of English in the Western Isles. I think we need a much stronger view than what we have now.

[John McDiarmaid – Reporter] Where do these figures leave us then and what is missing to make our language healthier? That’s the questions ahead of the development groups who have duty to strengthen Gaelic. John McDiarmaid, BBC An Là, Glasgow.

Figearan Gàidhlig bhon chunntas-sluaigh

(Gaelic figures from the census)

VocabularyBriathrachas

cunntas-sluaigh - census

tomhas - measure

dleastanas - duty

an taca ri - compared to

buidhnean-leasachaidh - development groups

CuideachadhHow to use this site

Tha Learn Gaelic le An Là ag amas air luchd-ionnsachaidh na Gàidhlig a tha, le beagan misneachd, deiseil airson ceum air adhart a ghabhail. Tha an t-susbaint freagarrach dhan h-uile neach-ionnsachaidh, ach bidh e nas cuideachaile do dhaoine a tha seachad air an ìre Tòiseachaidh.Learn Gaelic with An Là is aimed at learners who have already gained some confidence in Gaelic and want to take their learning to the next level. The material is suitable for all learners, but those who have progressed beyond the Beginner level will find this section particularly useful.

Bidh sinn a’ cur sgeulachdan bhon phrògram BBC An Là beò gach seachdain, le tar-sgrìobhadh Gàidhlig is eadar-theangachadh Beurla. Bidh dath an teacsa ag atharrachadh nuair a thèid facal a chluich. ‘S urrainnear cliogadh air facal sònraichte agus cluichidh am bhidio bhon sin a-mach. Dh’fhaodadh gum biodh seo cuideachail dha luchd-ionnsachaidh airson fuaimneachadh a dhearbhadh. Stories from the BBC ALBA Gaelic news programme "An Là" are uploaded on a weekly basis, with a Gaelic transcript and an English translation. As each Gaelic word is spoken, the accompanying text changes colour. Individual words can be selected with a simple click and the video will play from that point onwards. Learners may find this useful for checking pronunciation.

Bidh gach paragraf Gàidhlig a’ gluasad ri linn na h-aithris, ach faodar cuideachd na bàraichean-sgrolaidh a ghluasad gu earrann shònraichte den aithris.Each Gaelic paragraph automatically scrolls in conjunction with the news report, but the manual scrolling bars can also be used to move the text to a particular section of the report.

Chithear an tar-sgrìobhadh Gàidhlig anns a’ chiad dol a-mach. Ach, gheibhear eadar-theangachadh Beurla den tar-sgrìobhadh le bhith a’ taghadh Beurla no Gàidhlig agus Beurla.The Gaelic transcript is shown by default. However, you can see a translation of the transcript by selecting the English or Gaelic and English tabs.

Tha briathrachas cuideachd ri fhaotainn, le faidhlichean fuaim Gàidhlig na chois. Tha a’ bhriathrachas air a thaghadh bhon aithris fhèin, le measgachadh leithid ainmean-àite, briathrachas naidheachd, gnathasan-cainnt is abairtean. Key vocabulary is also provided, with accompanying Gaelic audio. This is a selected from the vocabulary contained in the news report and may include a selection of place names, news terminology, useful colloquialisms and phrases.

Gheibhear an làraich seo air tablaidean is fònaichean-làimhe ach, a chionn ‘s gur e bhidiothan làn-sgrion a-mhàin a sheallas iPhone, bithear a’ cluich faidhle-fuaim seach bhidio.The site should work on mobile devices, but since iPhones will only show video full-screen and hide the transcript, we play an audio file instead of the video.